Pride makes one admire himself, in the belief that his excellence, imagined or real, is the result of his

own worth. Our Lord condemned pride in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (1). Jesus said that the humble and repentant publican was justified in the eyes of God, while the proud Pharisee went home unjustified. Covetousness is one of the ugliest of sins. It was a sin of Judas. He loved money so much that he even betrayed Our Lord for thirty pieces of silver(2).

Pride, Covetousness, Lust

What is pride? --Pride is an inordinate love of one's own excellence, an excessive self-esteem. Our Lord is the best example of meekness and patience. Did He use His almighty power to punish those who did Him evil? For hours He hung meekly on the cross, until He died. Every day God is patient with sinners, giving them time to change their ways. God, the Supreme One, is not proud.
1.

The proud man overestimates himself, and believes himself the source of his own excellence. The virtue of humility, which disposes us to acknowledge our limitations, is opposed to pride. Some are proud of their appearance; others of their family, talents, position, money, and the virtues they imagine, they possess. Even if we do have excellent abilities or possessions, we should not be proud of them, remembering that they all come from God. Instead, we should

be humbly thankful, and see in what way we can make a return to God for such gifts. "Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5).
2.

Pride may be called the mother of all vices, for most sins can be traced to it. From pride arise ambition, vanity, presumption, disobedience, hypocrisy, obstinacy in sin. "For pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it shall be filled with maledictions and it shall ruin him in the end" (Ecclus. 10:15). "Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words, for from it all perdition took its beginning" (Tob. 4:14). Pride was the sin of our First Parents, who wanted to be as great as God. It was the sin of King Pharaoh; he was so proud that in spite of the miracles Moses worked, he refused to be convinced. For this God "hardened his heart" (Exod. 9:12); that is, God permitted him to close the window of his soul against the grace of the Holy Ghost, "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected thee" (1 Kings 15:26).

3.

The proud man tries to attract notice and praise, strives after honors, distinctions, and other worldly favors. He is over-confident in himself, and despises the assistance of God. Pride was the sin of Lucifer. The proud man pretends to be greater than he is, and tries by all manner of means to attract the praise of others, even using false humility to do so.

4. God hates pride, and punishes it severely, He often punishes secret pride by withdrawing His assistance from the proud man. And deprived of God's aid, the proud man often falls into grievous sins leading to his humiliation. "The beginning of the pride of man is to fall off from God" (Ecclus. 10:14). "God resists the proud" (1 Pet. 5:5). "Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled" (Luke 14:11). Thus the proud King Herod was eaten up by worms and died. Thus, the proud Roman Empire fell and became nothing. Our Lord pointed out the pride in the heart of the Pharisee, and praised the humble publican. 5. If we, however, despise sin as beneath us, that is not pride, but a virtuous self respect. A decent regard for cleanliness and neatness is not vanity. The ambition to exceed in good things, as in studies, in order to make the best use of God's gifts, is to be commended. God wishes us to be His excellent children. (See Chapter 44, on Humility, Liberality, Chastity) What is covetousness? --Covetousness is the excessive love for, and seeking after, wealth and other worldly possessions.
1.

Covetousness is also called avarice. A covetous person strives for more riches than he requires, and is never content, however much he already possesses. He greedily clings to what he has, and is stingy and hates to give anything away. For money Judas betrayed the Lord. "There is not a more wicked thing than to love money; for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale" (Ecclus. 10:10). "Take heed and guard yourselves from

all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). We meet with covetous persons among both rich and poor. Often among the rich there is money without avarice, and among the poor, avarice without money. 2. From covetousness arise hard-heartedness towards the poor, lying, cheating, usury, defrauding laborers of wages, and other sins. "Those who seek to become rich fall into temptation and a snare . . . For covetousness is the root of all evils" (1 Tim. 6:9-10). It destroys faith, for the avaricious are so absorbed in money-getting that they have no time for their spiritual welfare.
3.

To provide for one's future and that of one's family is praiseworthy. To avoid waste and extravagance is a virtue. To accumulate even considerable wealth, by proper means, is not wrong. The rich, however, must remember their obligation to use their wealth for the glory of God, not for their own pride.

4.

Liberality, which disposes us rightly to use worldly goods, is opposed to covetousness. (See Chapter 44, on Humility, Liberality, Chastity) The avaricious man is very foolish. He works hard all his life and becomes hated by men: he earns besides eternal damnation after death and all for nothing. When he dies all he has are a few feet of earth for his grave; his money is left to heirs who most probably ridicule his miserliness or waste the money to gain which he lost his soul. "For when he shall die, he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him" (Ps. 48:18). What is lust? --Lust is the inordinate seeking of the pleasures of the flesh.

1.

Lust defiles a man as no other sin does. It degrades man to the level of the beast. Pride is the sin commited by Lucifer, avarice by Judas, and lust by the brute. Of all vices, lust is most severely punished on earth. It leads to loss of health and reason. It was the cause of the Deluge. It was the cause for the destruction with fire and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrha. "But immorality and every uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becomes saints" (Ephes. 5:3).

2.

Those tempted to lust should remember that man was made to the image and likeness of God. Will they so rashly destroy that image, to make themselves like to beasts? In fact, beasts are better than lustful men, for beasts act in that manner from instinct; they have no soul like God. Impurity weakens the will and darkens the understanding. For this reason amendment is very difficult, and the sinner falls into many other sins. So Solomon, who yielded to lust, finally lost all his wisdom and turned to worship false gods.

3. From lust spring jealousy, hatred, murder, loss of faith, despair, instability, worldliness, selfishness, and other sins. The consequences of lust are seen in the case of Henry VIII. It was the cause of his apostasy, and his apostasy dragged an entire nation into similar apostasy. "For know this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one (for that is idolatry) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God" (Ephes. 5:5) (See Chapter 44, on Humility, Liberality, Chastity) 4. Sodomy, or sins against purity by persons of the same sex, is a form of lust.
http://www.catholicbook.com/AgredaCD/MyCatholicFaith/mcfc025.htm

Our Lord showed how hateful gluttony is in the parable of the rich man, Dives, and the poor Lazarus (1). Dives was so greedy that he would not even give scraps to Lazarus, who sat at his gate. But when Dives died, he went to hell, while Lazarus went to heaven. The brothers of Joseph (2), were so envious of him that they sold him to some merchants going to Egypt. God rebuked their sin by blessing Joseph in Egypt, and causing him to be in a position to help his envious brothers later.

Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth

What is anger? --Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure, combined with a desire to inflict punishment on the offender.
1.

An angry man loses his reason. In anger a man will do what he afterwards regrets. From anger arise hatred, revenge, (quarreling, blasphemy, contumely, and murder. The virtues of patience andmeekness are opposed to anger. (See Chapter 45 on Meekness, Abstinence, Zeal, Brotherly Love) Anger, or wrath, is a temporary madness. A man with this vice flies into a rage at every little thing. He always puts the blame of his anger on others, and even when he is alone be gets angry. "The wrath of man does not work the justice of God" (Jas. 1:20). Wilful murder, one of the "sins that cry to heaven for vengeance," arises from anger.

When the first willful murder took place, and Cain killed his brother Abel, God said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth" (Gen. 4:10). 2. He who indulges in anger injures his health, becomes hated, incurs damnation. Many men have had a stroke of paralysis brought on by anger; some have even died. If anger is so hurtful to the body, how much more to the soul!
3.

When we feel ourselves becoming angry, we should never speak or act, but try to calm ourselves by prayer. St. Francis de Sales said: "I have made an agreement with my tongue never to utter a word while my heart is excited." "Let every man be slow to speak and slow to wrath" (Jas. 1:19).

4.

If we should be so unhappy as to have offended anyone by our anger, we should hasten to apologize. "Do not let the sun go down upon your anger" (Ephes. 4:26)

5.

A just anger against sin and injustice is praiseworthy. We may hate the sin, but not the sinner. Christ had this just wrath when He drove the sellers from the Temple. Holy Scripture says, "Be angry and do not sin" (Ephes. 4:26). What is gluttony? --Gluttony is an excessive desire for or indulgence in food or drink.

1.

Gluttony is greediness, intemperance in eating and drinking. Of the gluttonous, St. Paul said that "their god is the belly " (Phil 3:19). We should not be either too greedy or too dainty about the nourishment we take. The virtue opposed to gluttony is temperance. We should not eat more than we need to support life. "We do not live to eat, but eat to live." We must not take what is injurious to health, even if its taste is pleasing. We must have regular hours for our meals. We should not be too particular about food, eat what is set before us, and not get angry when a dish is not very appetizing. The purpose of food is to give strength for the work we do while still on earth preparing for our final end.

2.

Gluttony produces dullness of mind, laziness, and sensuality. The vice of drunkenness is a terrible evil, leading to worse sins. A man when drunk loses his reason, and often makes a fool of himself. If reason is the chief difference between man and the beast, why should one extinguish it by drunkenness? "The sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:14). "He who sows in his flesh, from the flesh also he will reap corruption" (Gal. 6:8). It is well for young people to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking till after they are twenty years of age. If they do this, the likehood is that they will not contract vice. (See Chapter 45 on Meekness, Abstinence, Zeal, Brotherly Love)

Note: Smoking is against the 5th commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." (RMO) Saint Maximilian Kolbe is the patron Saint of SUBSTANCE ABUSE which includes alcohol, tobacco, heroin, marijuana. crack, cocaine, and any other substances that are abused. What is envy? --Envy is a bitter feeling at the excellence or good fortune of those who are better or happier, with a desire to rob them of what they have.
1.

Envy consists in discontent or anger at the success of another, as though it were evil to oneself. It also consists in rejoicing over another's misfortune, as if it were a good to oneself. Envy is against the commandment of God to love our neighbor. It is the mark of the petty mind and the hard heart. The devil envied Adam and Eve in Paradise; Cain envied Abel, whose offering was pleasing to God. Some are, so envious that they even envy the holiness of others, but without any desire or attempt at imitation. This was the case with the Pharisees, and their envy led them to plot the death of Jesus Christ.

2.

Envy leads to calumny, gossip, detraction, hatred, scandal, and other sins. An envious man looks on everything with malice; as a result his envy does not even make himself happy, but destroys his peace of heart. The sons of Jacob were envious of their brother Joseph because he was the favorite son. Their envy led them to sell him into Egypt. Often the envy in a man's heart causes him to be so soured on the world that he sells himself for nothing to the devil.

3.

A form of envy, one of the greatest sins, is envy at another's spiritual good. This is a most diabolical sin; it shows that the sinner has closed his heart against the charity of God, and instead houses God's enemy, Satan. The virtue opposed to envy is charity, or brotherly love. (See Chapter 45 on Meekness, Abstinence, Zeal, Brotherly Love) What is sloth? --Sloth is the neglect of one's duties, spiritual or temporal, through laziness.

1. The rule of the universe is activity; life and movement may be found in all nature. The slothful man is the exception; and he by his laziness goes against nature. "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom" (Prov. 6:6). The slothful keep putting off doing anything till tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, which often never comes.
2.

Many complain of hard luck, but often misfortunes come from laziness. The virtues of diligence and zeal are opposed to sloth. Even on earth, most rewards go only to the industrious and energetic.

3. Spiritual sloth is called lukewarmness. It is also called tepidity. The lukewarm person would like to have the rewards given by God, but will not move a finger to serve Him. As soon as it is necessary to exert himself, he shrinks from the effort.

Great Sinners have been known to become great saints, but the lukewarm, never. Holy Scripture says: "I would that thou wert cold or hot. But because thou an lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth" (Apoc. 3:15,16).
4.

Sloth leads to many sins; idleness begets vice. The lazy neglect good works. If man has no useful occupation, his natural activity turns to all kinds of mischief. A busy person avoids many temptations. (See Chapter 45 on Meekness, Abstinence, Zeal, Brotherly Love)

http://www.catholicbook.com/AgredaCD/MyCatholicFaith/mcfc026.htm